Library Services: Government: Selected Government Information Sources

Selected Government Information Sources

CIA World Factbook
The World Factbook provides maps and country information. For each country you'll find a map, and information (often statistical) about the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military and any transnational issues.
Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information. Use it to find the status of legislation, texts of bills and laws, bill sponsors, all actions taken by Congress and more.
Healthfinder (Consumer Health Information)
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Healthfinder.gov provides consumer health information from over 1400 government and nonprofit organizations.
Library of Congress Country Studies
The Library of Congress Country Studies are a series of books, each about a country, which describe and analyze each country's political, economic, social, and national security systems and institutions.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
The National Criminal Justice Reference Center provides information about Corrections, the Courts, Crime, Crime Prevention, Drugs, the Justice System, Juvenile Justice, Law Enforcement, and Victims.

PubMed
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Database of citations to articles from medical journals. Includes some full-text, but most items are abstracts.Springfield College students should consider searching Medline through the Library's databases page. It covers the same content and links to much more full-text.

Regulations.gov
This site is designed for citizen participation. It provides an easy way to find out what regulations the federal government is currently proposing and gives people an easy way to comment on the proposed regulations.
[Tax] Forms and Publications
The starting point to find IRS tax forms. publications, instructions, etc.
United States Government Manual
Lists principal officials of the departments and agencies of the U.S. Government. Listings also contain statements of an agency's purpose, a short history, and a description of it's programs and activities.
USA.gov - Small Business
The Small Business section of the USA.gov website. Use it to learn how to start a small business or a nonprofit organization, get financial help from the government ,and other useful business topics.

How can you tell if a web site is trustworthy or not? It's not always easy, but there are things that you can look for that will help you decide.

Who is the author? Are they qualified to talk about this subject?
How accurate is the information? You may need to compare what you find with another source to answer this question.
Who is the audience? This can influence how much detail is included.
What point of view is being represented? All sites have a bias, but is it obvious or are they trying to hide something?
How up to date is the site? Older information may no longer be accurate.
How comprehensive is the page? Some pages may leave out critical information.